All things being equal would I get much more flight time by going to a 7000mah over a 5000mah.

All things being equal you will get approximately 40% more flight time. Additional weight of the 7000mAh pack will cause a non-linear relationship though, so in reality, it will be something less than 40%.

spending time, paying attention

Drop the voltage, more capacity, run SLIGHTLY less HS with less governor overhead. i.e. 5s 7000 vs. 6s 5000, you will actually get slightly more than 40% more flight time as motor and ESC will be running more efficiently at a higher throttle %.